The first section is narrated by Johnny Truant and printed in Courier font, as are all sections narrated by Johnny. (Different portions of House of Leaves are in different fonts.) In this multi-layered narrative, Johnny’s sections comment on and frame The Navidson Record, the document composed by Zampanò and printed in Times New Roman font.

Johnny writes the Introduction from Hollywood, California in 1998. He reports that he is covered in blood and is considering shooting someone with his gun. He has first encountered The Navidson Record in the winter of 1996. Lude, a friend of Johnny’s, call him over late one night to his apartment building. An elderly man named Zampanò has just died, and Lude has the keys to his apartment. The two men enter the apartment to find that all windows, vents, and doors have been sealed up. On the floor, they see “jagged bits of wood clawed up by something neither of us cared to imagine” (xvii). They find the manuscript, The Navidson Record, which consists of “reams and reams” that Zampanò wrote about a fictional film called The Navidson Record (xix).